


Larimar

by serein_convivencia



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-06 14:38:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5420861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serein_convivencia/pseuds/serein_convivencia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lapithyst AU in which Lapis agrees to go with Steven in "Jailbreak", leading her to be the one trapped in Steven's bathroom instead of Peridot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't intend for this to be all that long, but I'd like to space it out so that I can write the final chapter after they've fought Malachite in canon.... Kinda wishful thinking but I don't want to be too unrealistic.

“Lapis!”

Lapis turned her head to face whoever had called her. She wasn’t surprised to find that it was none other than Steven Universe, who had an incredible determination to save those that he loved. He called her again.

“Lapis, I can get you out!” He beamed, reaching his hands towards the yellow field separating them.

“Stop!” Lapis turned her tense body around to fully face him, holding her shoulders and arms awkwardly in a defensive position. Steven stopped his hands, leaving nothing but the sound of Ruby pacing in the background for a brief moment.

“It’s okay, I can-”

“No!” Lapis interjected, “I don’t want your help! Things are bad enough as it is. I’ve already made too much trouble.” She relaxed her shoulders, crossing her arms shamefully. “Once we get back to Homeworld, they’re going to decide what to do with us.”

 

“RRRGH! I don’t have time for this!” Ruby shouted through gritted teeth before marching off. Steven called for her to come back, but Lapis interrupted him.

“Steven, whatever you’re doing just stop… If we do everything they say, they might go easy on us!”

“But they’re… Mean! They hurt my friends, they hurt my face! They’ve got you here in prison!” Steven paused so that Lapis could interject, but instead she sat pensively in her cell. Finally, she spoke.

“Steven, there is so much more out there than you could ever know. We don’t have much time left, so just… Please. Save yourself.” Steven glanced behind himself anxiously before looking back at Lapis.

“I know that you’re worried about me, and I know that it’s hard to take risks sometimes- but we need to protect each other. Even if it means we might be in danger.”

“... You don’t know what it feels like to be someone’s prisoner, Steven! They treat you like an an object- and it would be so much worse for you.” Lapis looked down, trying desperately not to meet Steven’s confused stare. They sat in tense silence; Steven not wanting to know and Lapis not wanting to share.

The sound of metal crunching suddenly interrupted them. A steady, almost rhythmic pattern of impacts began to shake the ship. It was clear that the ship was in bad shape. Steven shoved both hands through the field, creating an opening for Lapis to crawl through. Lapis hesitated.

“Come on, Lapis! We’ve gotta go!”

“Do you have any idea what they’ll do to you if they find out that you did this?”

“If you want me to be safe, then save me, Lapis!” After a pause, Lapis made the decision to crawl through. Although it was clear that she was feeling self-assured, she was still anxious to meet her captors. While they ran down the hallways, the ship lost power.

“I’m going to the control bridge to see if there’s an escape pod. You rescue the others and meet me there.” Lapis ordered. Steven nodded with a reassuring smile before running in the opposite direction.  
He would have rather stayed with Lapis, but was happy that he was able to save her.

Steven wasn’t sure where the others were. In fact, the only Gem he had any chance of locating was whoever was singing… And she’d stopped ever since the ship began to shake. After a few minutes of running around, he happened to find the cell that Amethyst and Pearl were trapped inside of.

“Steven! Oh thank goodness… We heard the rumbling and we thought-” Pearl drifted off in worried thought, looking down at her own clutching hands.

“Hey! How’d you get out?” Amethyst blurted out, eager to escape.

“There’s no time! Just follow me!” Steven said, pushing his body through the field and allowing the two to escape. They all began to run down the hallway, with Steven in front leading them to the control bridge.

“... What happened to Garnet?” Steven asked timidly.

“No, no! Don’t worry, Steven. I’m sure that she’s fine… We’ll probably find her in one of these cells!” Pearl laughed nervously, “Garnet! ...Come on, Amethyst!”

“Oh… right.” Amethyst said in realisation. The two called Garnet's name with increasing faithlessness (and volume) before Steven stepped in.

“Hey, stop it! Don’t lie to me. I wanna know what really happened.” Steven said, stopping in front of them and turning to face them. Pearl and Amethyst looked at each other fearfully.

“You know, Steven…” Pearl started, “Garnet is… Um..” Steven’s eyes filled with frustrated tears as Pearl turned away, once more looking down at her fidgeting hands and trying to come up with an excuse to comfort Steven.

“Forget it. Let’s just get through this.” Steven said bitterly (and on the verge of tears) before turning back around and continuing to run. He had a vague idea of where the control bridge was, but it wasn’t until he heard Lapis screaming that he knew where he was going. Upon reaching the control bridge, he noticed Peridot shoving Lapis into an escape pod, and near the other side of the room he saw Garnet fighting off Jasper.

“Garnet!” Steven shouted without thinking. Garnet looked over at Steven, consequently getting punched across the face by Jasper. She grabbed Jasper’s thick forearm with her gauntlet and used her foot to push her back. Jasper was set back a few feet, but unharmed. “Steven, stay back!”

On the other side of the room, Lapis called out to Steven. Her previous confidence was gone; overcome with the anxiety of her situation and the panic of being captured (which was all too familiar for her). Peridot fought through Lapis’ thrashing arms and legs to push her fully into the escape pod, and was only able to do so because of her extra digits. Once she was inside, Peridot forced the escape pod shut.

“Steven, help!” She managed to yell before the ship consumed the escape pod and shot it back to earth through one of the extremities of the ship.

“Lapis!” Steven ran over to Peridot, who had clearly lost her composure. She was in a low, powerful stance (no longer standing in her uniform position), and was fit to burst with anger at the sight of Steven.

“You! You filthy, muddy clods! Do you have any idea what you’ve done!?” Peridot leaned forward to tower over Steven. Pearl rushed over to intervene.

Meanwhile, Amethyst fought with Garnet, grappling Jasper’s neck and arms to incapacitate her. While Amethyst was on her head, Jasper summoned her weapon (a golden, square helmet with a diamond insignia on the front) to push her off. Jasper began to throw headbutts at Garnet, who was already struggling to keep the fight away from the others.

“You’ve compromised my mission. And now you’ve destroyed my ship! Do you know what will happen if we get stuck here!?” Peridot screeched, beginning to become more worried than angry.

“That’s enough, Peridot!” Pearl snapped defensively, pointing her spear at Peridot’s gem.

“You really think you of all Gems can stop me? You’re just a-” A weakened Jasper fell between them before she could finish. Jasper’s body hit the control panel, deactivating the auto-pilot and sending the ship into a vertical drop.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gems crash the ship and a battle ensues.

Garnet quickly grabbed the remaining three crystal Gems and pulled them onto her lap, ordering Steven to bubble them for protection. As they sat in suspenseful silence, the sounds of the ship now muted, Steven felt guilty that he hadn’t bothered to save Peridot. She was on the outside of the bubble trying to shake Jasper loose from the controls with more and more urgency, trying desperately to reactivate one of the only emergency systems in the now-dormant ship.

She looked around herself with wide, panic-stricken eyes as the ship gained speed. Steven knew the ground was incoming, and shut his eyes in anticipation.

Their bodies were plastered against the bubble in the force of the impact, Steven grabbing at his stomach and head to steady his free-floating organs and stop the dizziness in his head. Pearl put her arm around him silently, pulling him close to the others. Although the bubble was almost completely soundproof, the crash was almost ear shattering as the ship crushed the mountain (and temple) beneath it. The ship sustained itself for just a few moments before exploding on impact and sending rocks and bits of twisted scrap metal into the air and ocean.

As their bubble popped, the Crystal Gems (who had all managed to fit on Garnet’s thighs) fell onto the sand with a shocked, but triumphant look on their face.

“...We did it!” Steven yelled, throwing his fists into the air. Pearl and Amethyst laughed proudly, while Garnet sat and smiled while ruffling his hair.  
“We did it.” Garnet repeated.

A sudden noise from a pile of scrap metal caught their attention. Steven looked over at Lion, who was on the other side of the beach looking for them, and looked back at the pile with fear. With a loud grunt, a thick, orange hand surfaced, working hard to push a metal panel upwards and off of itself. Jasper pushed herself out of the rubble, breathing heavily from fatigue before collapsing a few feet in front of the Crystal Gems.

“Don’t think you’ve won.” She managed to say through heavy breaths. “You only beat me… Because you’re a fusion!” Jasper looked back to the pile of metal and dug through it for a few moments. Steven looked up at Garnet, who held her gauntlets up defensively. The others hadn’t summoned their weapons yet, but all seemed ready to attack regardless.

“Aha…!” Jasper heaved, pulling up Peridot by the arm. Her visor was cracked and her clothing was torn, Steven felt the urge to call out to her but restrained himself. She was wincing (seemingly) in pain, and was struggling to listen as Jasper spoke to her.

“Peridot, listen. Fuse with me!” Jasper ordered Peridot, who jolted awake.

“Excuse me?” She uttered quietly, but harshly. Jasper let go of her arm, letting her fall into the beach. She used her robotic parts to stabilize herself, but was still shaking.

“Peridot, your life is on the line here. These Gems crashed your ship, they trapped you here. This is your chance to get out of here. This is your chance.. For revenge!”

Peridot stood in front of the burning wreckage of her ship, trying desperately to overcome her stigma of fusion. She looked at Jasper with hatred, but at the Crystal Gems with repulsion. Jasper pushed her hand towards her and, with some consideration, Peridot grabbed it while maintaining direct eye contact with Steven. Although he wasn’t affiliated with Peridot, he felt betrayed somehow.  
After a quick twirl and dip, the bodies of Jasper and Peridot transformed, growing into a ten story high pillar of green light before settling into their final form: Endlichite. Their fusion had two sets of eyes, one pair sitting vertically on their face while the other behaved normally. Their mouth (filled with a horrifying amount of teeth) was twisted into a smirk from not being able to close properly, and just above it was a visor that tethered into two points near the edges (similar to Sugilite’s), but also formed a third point to cover Peridot’s Gem. They had a combined six arms (two of which were used as legs), and another pair of legs that jutted out of their body like a caterpillar. Their body was structured like a centaur, with one portion upright and the other perpendicular to the ground. As their body began to take shape, they laughed.

From a few thousand miles away, Lapis witnessed the fight from the escape pod. With her palms pressed against the glass, she watched helplessly as the fusion inched closer to the Crystal Gems with malice.

She looked at Steven who, with true fear of death in his eyes, was crying. Even with the power of water manipulation, she couldn’t help but shed a tear before deciding to intervene. She summoned a hand from the water and crashed it down onto Endlichite, knocking them over into the wreckage.

“What the-” Their combined voice shrieked. Lapis tried to use the water to tether the fusion to the ground, but she was now too far away to have a good vantage point of the battle. As the escape pod rattled with her increasing speed, Lapis took her only chance and created an independant water clone to deal with the situation itself before the scene was hidden behind the horizon before her crash.

The water clone, with a seemingly indefinite amount of water at its disposal, created two heavy chains of water and wrapped them around the body and neck of the fusion.

“What are you doing!? Don’t you remember the clu-” The fusion’s words were lost as the water clone dragged them into the ocean. The fusion could take in nothing but water as they tried to curse the Crystal Gems, flailing their body uselessly in the water like a dying whale before their strangled words were silenced completely by the water. The Crystal Gems stood in complete shock among the wreckage. As the wave subsided, only the gentle crackling of fire was heard.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis and Steven meet through phychic means.

Between her newly-cracked Gem and the pile of wreckage on top of her, it was a struggle for Lapis to reform. It was only after a few days that she was finally able to take her physical form again, but just barely. She collapsed on the floor immediately after her feet hit the ground, as if her joints had all failed her at once. The grass was warm against her chest, which was now expanding and contracting rhythmically as she took deep breaths to calm herself. Her tired body had stopped shaking and could now probably support her, but she was in no rush to get going. Truthfully, Lapis had no idea what she would do next; her only ally was Steven… Who shared a temple with the Crystal Gems. She pushed out a sigh before falling asleep in the silence of her surroundings.

Meanwhile, Beach City was returning to business as usual. Steven’s friends had all returned to their homes, and he’d even started receiving mail again. The Crystal Gems were all working hard to clear the debris from the beach, but Steven was relieved to have secured the safety of his home town. As he was taking a lemonade break inside, Pearl stepped in.

“Pearl!” He shouted in excitement. She had been gone for most of the day, and the others had started to worry. Pearl never missed out on a chore to do. “Where have you been?”

“Oh, ha… Well,” She laughed nervously, pulling her hands behind her back and looking at the ceiling. “You know, Steven… I…” She spoke breathlessly while Steven looked at her intently.

“Yeah?”

“... I was looking for Jasper and Peridot.” She uttered under her breath.

“But didn’t Lapis take care of them?”

“Steven, I’ve told you this before. Lapis is… Nice and all… But there are a lot of things that we don’t understand about Homeworld. If she really is their ally, we can’t trust her.”

“Lapis wants to protect us, though! I really think we should find her. I’m starting to get worried.” Steven protested, but Pearl persisted.

“It’s just too dangerous, especially after what just happened, to have one of the invading Gems in our Temple.” Steven looked down, disappointed. Pearl responded by putting one comforting hand on his shoulder.

“It’s for our own good.” She said in a motherly voice, smiling sweetly at Steven. She lifted her hand and walked back towards the warp pad. “I’m going back out, but I’ll be back soon, okay?”

“Okay.” Steven said quietly but reassuringly. He smiled back at her and waved her goodbye as she disappeared. He knew that the Gems meant well, but couldn’t help but think that they didn’t quite understand him sometimes. He crossed his arms onto the table in front of him, set his head down, and fell asleep.

Steven found himself lucidly dreaming about the people in his life. His dad, Connie, Amethyst, Pearl and Garnet were all there. Something seemed strange about them, but within the confines of his dream he couldn’t tell. They were all playing within the temple and suddenly found themselves outside on the beach, where the water and sand were unusually warm and pleasant. Steven looked around with a sort of clairvoyance not possible outside of dreams, as if he was experiencing it not through sight or sound but through something beyond that, a sixth sense that seemed to just barely exist. The water suddenly overtook them, forming a giant hand and crashing onto the beach. Suddenly, Steven’s dream took a turn. The swaying foliage outside the temple turned to burning rubble, his loved ones disappeared and left Endlichite in their place. Steven closed his eyes, unable to move.

“Steven?” He opened his eyes. It was as if he’d woken up; Lapis’ face was in front of him as clear as day.

“...Lapis? What are you doing here?” Steven asked hazily, looking around to find that the beach and fusion had both disappeared.

“I don’t know. Where are we?” Lapis looked around, equally confused. Their surroundings were now pitch black, there wasn’t even ground beneath their feet. The two thought quietly before Steven remembered through the haze in his mind.

“Lapis, where are you? Pearl thinks that you-”

“I can’t join you Steven.” She said firmly, but sadly. She responded quickly as if she’d been thinking about the same thing.

“Why not?” Lapis crossed her arms, looking down the nothing beneath her.

“I can’t trust them. And, even after all I’ve done, they can’t trust me either.”

“Lapis…” Steven said worriedly under his breath. Lapis looked back up at Steven, giving him a stern, commanding look.

“Don’t look for me, Steven. It’ll only cause more trouble.” She maintained intense eye contact with him, but he didn’t look away. Although she seemed to be sure of her decision, Steven noticed insecurity in her voice; a subtle wavering. She seemed weak.

“I don’t get it, why are you hiding?” Steven asked.

“I can’t fight them anymore. We’re fighting a losing battle… Don’t you understand?” Her voice was pleading. Steven was concerned, but determined.

“...I don’t want to understand! I’m not leaving you, Lapis, not after all you’ve done for us.” Steven asserted. Lapis couldn’t help but give a weak smile as she looked back down at the floor pensively.

"You really want to protect me, don't you?"

"Of course I do! You're my friend. My family, even."

"...What have I done to earn such a title?"

"You have earned such a title because I love you, Lapis! And so do all of the others, even if they don't always show it. I really don't know where we'd all be if you didn't save us from that fusion, and I definitely don't know where we'd all end up if we lost you."

"... I'm not sure."

"I won't make you, then. Just do whatever you think is right."

The two sat in awkward silence as Lapis thought. Although there didn't seem to be anything in their realm anymore, there was still (for some reason) a small amount of wind. It pushed Lapis' hair and skirt around, just enough to be noticeable.

“Alright… I’ll help. But only for your sake.” Lapis replied contently.

Steven pushed forward and hugged her wholeheartedly. At first it was one-sided, but Lapis eventually put her arms around him and pulled him even closer before they woke.


End file.
